Life Style

If you like to stay hydrated no matter where you go, chances are you have got a reusable water bottle or two. Or 10 – the collectors know who they are.There are bottles that sterilise themselves. Bottles that remind you when to drink. Bottles designed for sustainability. And bottles transformed by a paintbox of colours and imagery into mini artworks.Hydration has become more than a necessity. It has got a personality.Kit Dillon, a writer for product review site Wirecutter, says four things make a good water bottle: “It has the right size. It [is] leakproof. It feels good. It insulates well.”Which one works for you depends on what you use it for, he says. Eva Bleyer, who tests kitchen appliances for the American lifestyle media brand Good Housekeeping Institute, agrees.

Director Gordon Chan Kar-seung (Beast Cops) wanted to reshape the Hong Kong police film genre with 1994’s The Final Option, and the result was a classic. Lesser sequels followed.The Final Option (1994)A classic of 1990s Hong Kong cinema, The Final Option is action filmmaking of the highest order. The story about the Royal Hong Kong Police force’s Special Duty Unit (SDU), has a gripping storyline, believable characterisations and some excellent tactical assault sequences.“Finally, a crime story that is intelligently scripted, directed and acted,” said the Post’s review.“What distinguishes The Final Option is that Chan chooses to deal with his material in a more realistic fashion, underplaying the combat and emphasising the interpersonal drama. The emotional subtext is particularly mature fo...

For those who love experiential dining, Gaggan Anand is well known.Anand, born in Kolkata, India, not only put the Thai capital on the progressive dining map, he also pushed the boundaries of Indian cuisine and its perception around the world. The chef was featured in the second season of Netflix’s Chef’s Table in 2018.Anand’s journey began in hotel kitchens in India before he moved to Thailand in 2007, where he was appointed executive chef of Red, an Indian fine-dining restaurant in Bangkok.Gaggan Arnand and his team receive the award for Asia’s top restaurant at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony in Seoul, Korea, in 2025. Photo: handoutHe did a stint at Ferran Adria’s restaurant El Bulli in Spain. Having learned boundary-breaking techniques from Adria, known as the father of molecular g...

Tsang Kin-wah’s first Hong Kong exhibition in years was one of the most talked-about openings during Art Basel week, even though nobody could quite pronounce the title.“T REE O GO D EVIL”, with the deliberate gaps, is still on view at Central’s Galerie du Monde, one of Hong Kong’s oldest established commercial galleries.The immersive exhibition that completely takes over the gallery space’s surfaces also rings with political urgency. It is a particularly memorable comeback for a person once widely regarded as Hong Kong’s most prominent contemporary artist.In 2014, when he was chosen to represent Hong Kong at the 56th Venice Biennale, Tsang was best known for his wallpapers that concealed Cantonese swear words in elegant floral patterns. Such playful symbols of hybridity morphed into someth...

Fancy some pasta at New York’s posh Italian restaurant Carbone or maybe a whisky at The Polo Bar, Ralph Lauren’s first New York restaurant?Hold on to your wallet, because some folks are shelling out hundreds of US dollars just for the privilege of booking a table, not even for the food.In a city that never sleeps, money talks – especially when it comes to dining out.As it is often impossible to get a table in the city’s most popular restaurants weeks in advance, an online marketplace for table reservations has developed.A view of Prince Street Pizza, a restaurant in New York, with a queue of people waiting to get in. Photo: ShutterstockOn these portals, people with deep pockets can bid for reservations that others have previously bought.

It is the small things that often prove to Ginny MacColl that she is on the right track in her fitness regimen. Like being able to open a stubborn jar lid with ease. Or flinging a door open with unexpected force.“At 73, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been,” she says from her home in Southport, in the US state of North Carolina. “And those everyday wins – those are the moments I know it’s working.”American actress and dancer MacColl is the oldest woman ever to compete on the long-running US sports entertainment reality show American Ninja Warrior and the oldest person to ever complete an obstacle on the show.On Instagram (@ginnymaccoll), she posts videos of herself doing push-ups, pull-ups, swimming laps and navigating obstacle courses that would challenge someone half her age. Her warm, relat...

Lee Kwang-soo is back in the spotlight with not one but two major dramas currently on screens.The Korean actor shows his range in workplace comedy The Divorce Insurance – streaming globally on Amazon Prime – alongside Lee Dong-wook and in the twisty Netflix thriller series Karma, in which he shares the limelight with Shin Min-a and Park Hae-soo.Lee has been a draw on big and small screens for well over a decade but he is far from your typical leading man, not least because, at over 190cm (6ft 2in), he towers over most of his co-stars.His height drew attention when he was at school, with offers to play sports such as basketball and volleyball. In high school he began modelling, and took an interest in acting.Gong Seung-yeon and Lee Kwang-soo in a still from Karma. Photo: Jihyeong Seo/Netfli...

Relaxation techniques may help lower high blood pressure – at least in the short term, research suggests.However, they suggested the quality of the overall evidence is poor and more work is needed.At least 1.2 billion adults aged 30 to 79 years worldwide have hypertension, according to the World Health Organization. The condition is common, especially in older people, and it often does not have symptoms.Aigul Safiullina, of Respira Breathwork in Hong Kong, in Causeway Bay. Simple breathing exercises can help reduce stress levels by slowing the breathing rate, helping to lower the production of cortisol. Photo: Antony DicksonIn those under 80, high blood pressure is defined as a reading of 140/90 or higher when checked by a healthcare professional, and 135/85 or higher when checked at home....

In March 2009, American Scott Parazynski – a veteran of five Nasa space shuttle missions, including seven spacewalks, who had racked up more than 23 million miles (37 million km) – hung up his spacesuit.“I could have flown once, maybe twice more, but I was keen to stretch my wings as an inventor and entrepreneur,” says the 63-year-old.Undeterred, he tried again the following year, and this time succeeded in conquering Earth’s highest mountain above sea level. He reached the top at 4am on May 20, 2009, making him the first person to have flown in space and summited the world’s highest peak.Parazynski is a doctor by training – he was the personal doctor to his hero John Glenn aboard the Discovery shuttle on the then-US senator’s return to space in 1998.HIs other adventurous feats include scu...

Asparagus season has arrived in Germany, signalling the unofficial beginning of spring.There is no other vegetable that Germans obsess about as much as white asparagus. They can discuss for hours whether it should be eaten with melted butter or Hollandaise sauce, served with smoked ham or schnitzel, or with a side of potatoes boiled whole or peeled, cut into slices and fried with bacon and onion.There’s also some debate over whether you can eat the shoots with your fingers or only with a fork and knife – although traditional etiquette clearly states that using your fingers is no violation of good manners as long as you dip and clean them in a little bowl of warm water.The only thing Germans can agree on when it comes to their favourite vegetable is that green asparagus comes nowhere close ...